Freedom Day . . . At Long Last!

This is the day we've been waiting for. All the ludicrous restrictions we've had to live under for the past two years are being abandoned. Let's say it; the pandemic is over, although Boris Johnson has said that the coronavirus hasn't gone away. Let's just say, it's hiding. We have to learn to live with it. 

It may be 'Freedom Day' if that's what you want to call it, but we now have all this overshadowed by the Ukraine Crisis with Russia threatening to invade that small country. Vladimir Putin making out it's their fault, and they're the aggressor. All this is done to deflect things from problems within Russia, mostly financial.

Thursday. 9.45 a.m. I have just got back from taking Alfie out for one of his walks and, as we walked along the path that runs beside Strudwick Drive, I notice a bright yellow pencil that looked as if it has been thrown away. Nothing wrong with it, an ordinary Staedtler wooden pencil, HB grade. I'm thinking, 'I'll have that!" So I picked it up and put it in my jacket pocket. But further along, I picked up more and in total there were 10 of them. I just hope they were thrown there by a pupil from Milton Keynes Academy or even the Primary school which is just over the road. Are children so stupid as to throw away stuff they are given to use in their lessons? I know some children don't have such items given to them by their parents as they don't have the income to afford such items as pens, pencils and other things, so why waste these by throwing them on the grass. There are children in Africa who would be pleased to have even a scrap of paper to write on or a pencil to write with. I don't think the children around here realize how lucky they are to have even the basic things free of charge for use in their education.

Perfectly good pencils, rescued from the grass along Strudwick Drive this morning. Just a waste to throw them away.

7.30 a.m. As I've mentioned in earlier blogs, I have upgraded my MacBook and now have a MacBook Pro. I'm more than pleased with it. I'm really surprised how thin and light it is, compared with my MacBook Air. I had been searching online to find some way of recycling it and, hopefully, get a fair price for it. This morning it has been collected by a courier from DPD, packed it up in a sealed box and is now gone. It was in excellent condition, mostly because it has had a plastic cover. I had managed to remove the bottom cover, but not the top one. Which shows how effective it has been in protecting this laptop.  I always attempt to look after all my gadgetry, because it is expensive and if I want to use it there's no point in it getting damaged if it's cared for properly. I had wiped the surface with a wet wipe but got the driver to remove the top cover. Also wiped clean and hopefully, this will affect the price I eventually receive. 

I'm somewhat annoyed that the laundry room is locked until 8 a.m. Just crazy that I have to wait until 8 o'clock to do my washing. I haven't been told about this stupid new rule. More rules and regulations. Just annoying.

It seems that Freedom Day was somewhat overshadowed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Just tell me, when did Kiev become Kyiv? It seems that the names of quite a few places have more or less overnight been changed in their spelling. Most western nations have taken their eyes off the ball (you might say.) Biden, US President' is as much use as a wet fish. Probably has early-onset dementia. Meanwhile, our politicians have been more concerned about parties in Downing Street than watching what's happening centre stage.  No wonder Rome burns whilst Nero fiddles. Sorry, I'm mixing my metaphors. No wonder Putin has managed to do what he's done. Puts me in mind of the Munich Crisis in 1938 before the beginning of World War 2. Strange how history repeats itself.

10.30 a.m. It is quite sunny and warm. A pleasant enough day to wander slowly around Oldbrook Green.

I have been back baking. I got the Sainsbury's Magazine last time I was shopping and inside is a recipe for chocolate cookies, so I have bought the ingredients (not actually from Sainsbury's. I decided to go to Waitrose instead. It is quite an effort to make anything complicated in my tiny kitchen because there isn't much in the way of surfaces. It's a bit of a juggling act. Measuring out the flour, butter, sugar and so on and attempted to roll out the dough and then put it on baking trays, but my efforts have been worthwhile. The results have exceeded expectations. Now I have had all the boxes removed from the pantry/cupboard, I have more space to store the equipment, such as the food processor and the trays and pans. I need to get a good deal more organized next time I do a bake.

I have hit the 10,000 steps target today! That's approximately 5 miles. I took Alfie out  at around 4 p.m. as it was bright and sunny and it seemed a pity to not take advantage of the sun. I don't think Alfie was going to miss the opportunity to have a good walk and sniff around in the grass. Just glad to get the steps total in and finding the Fitbit is motivating me to get out of the flat.

Boring Football!!

I know, we've got football coming out of our ears. The World Cup is currently on in Russia. Not just on virtually every television channel known to man (stupid, it isn't but it feels like it at the moment.) You turn on the television expecting EastEnders (I don't watch it, but you know what I mean.) and the programme has been shifted to either another day or  later or earlier slot. If you don't watch, the alternative isn't exactly enticing. You can watch a second-hand episode of something else instead. Or the BBC has to celebrate the 70's birthday of the N.H.S., but rather over-does it with more or less wall-to-wall programmes. Not bad to celebrate, but it's just over-kill. You just can't avoid it, similar to how you can't avoid football.

The simple fact is, football bores me silly. I cannot see what's so exciting about 22 men running about on a piece of grass, chasing a ball and with the intention of kicking the thing into a net. It's just plain pointless. There's no sense in it at all. Similar, I suppose to cricket. Something I just don't get anything from. Maybe it was because I was never any good at either sport when I was at school (there is another blog post on this subject somewhere on here, so I may be repeating myself somewhat, but who cares?) We were made to spend hours and hours watching these wretched sports when I was at school, as well as having to play them. I was never any good, so I was virtually the last person selected when they were organising teams, so I was made to feel inferior because I wasn't any good and you can see why I have an eversion to team sports of this sort. Having to watch it on television is just as uninteresting. I suppose I can bear to watch Rugby because at least it has a sort of raw energy to it as a game, it's a contact sport and it's faster and angrier. They occasionally get covered in mud and all sorts of grime and dirt. It has a sort of Medieval battle feel about it.

I suppose the World Cup has the element of patriotism about it, 'come on England!' and all that jazz. But is it really? Unfortunately the sight of the national flag of England has connotations of the National Front and ultra-right wing politics about it. Which is unfair, I know, but I'm sure you'll agree where I'm coming from here. Those organisations who have a political agenda, usually with racist views, sadly. They use the national flag for their own use, as a sort of symbol.

There again, football does have the power to bring people together, to create bonds of friendship, which seems to be happening in Russia at the moment, which can't be a bad thing. Politics shouldn't come into sport, particularly when we have to remember what happened in Salisbury a few months back and the fact that Russia was supposed to have been behind that incident, but not actually proven.  At one point, in the lead up to the World Cup, it was suggested that we boycott the event, but fortunately it didn't come to that.